The youth wing of a Turkish NGO supported and funded by the European Union has paid a heartfelt tribute to Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader killed on July 31 by an Israeli strike in Iran.
In a publication dated August 2, 2024, the youth section of the international organisation Al Sharq Forum called for ‘a final tribute’ to ‘martyr’ Ismail Haniyeh in Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia Square, saying it had ‘a commitment to [him]’.
This Turkish NGO is headed by the Palestinian Wadah Khanfar and was founded by him in 2012. He was Director General of the Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera from 2003 and of its media network from 2006 to 2011 (…).
In an interview published on the official website of the Muslim Brotherhood on October 25, 2006, Wadah Khanfar was asked whether the fact that he had ‘an Islamic background, especially with the Muslim Brotherhood’ would not conflict with his duties at Al Jazeera. He replied evasively that although he did not feel he ‘belonged to a particular ideological political movement’, he believed he ‘belonged first and foremost to the Ummah (the Muslim community, editor’s note), including its collective heritage and spirit’.
Despite its obvious links to the Muslim Brotherhood and its apparent intention to promote political Islam, the European Commission has funded no less than four projects of the Al Sharq Forum’s youth department totalling €110,279 from 2021 to 2023 through Erasmus+.
(…) Le JDD